Title: Vocation

Author: badly-knitted

Characters: Dee, Ryo.

Rating: PG

Setting: Throughout the manga.

Summary: To Dee and Ryo, being cops isn't just a career, it's their vocation.

Word Count: 612

Written For: My own prompt 'FAKE, Dee/Ryo, Vocation,' at fic_promptly.

Disclaimer: I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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For all that they'd both considered many different careers when they were growing up, discarding the flavour of the month like so many kids did when a newer and shinier, more appealing future career occurred to them, Dee and Ryo both thought of police work as more of a vocation than a job. Once the idea of a career in law enforcement had taken root in their minds, that had been it, there'd been no further consideration of other possible careers and they'd each entered the police academy as soon as they were able.

Both of them had been driven to join the force because of personal loss, but it had proved the correct choice as they'd each found they had a previously un-guessed at aptitude for the work. They learned the ropes fast, keen-eyed and observant, their brains adept at unravelling mysteries and piecing together clues into a usually pretty accurate picture of the events leading up to a crime.

They were both fit and athletic too, enjoying the physicality of the work, getting out on the streets to track down and apprehend suspects, even if they sometimes moaned about the long hours and the lousy weather. Added to that, they both had the good fortune to be blessed with strong stomachs, a definite advantage, especially once they made detective. The Serious Crimes Unit was not for the faint of heart, dealing as they did with homicides, abductions, violent assaults, and all the other equally sadistic acts humans were capable of perpetrating against each other. It took a particular kind of person to deal with such ugliness on a day-to-day basis without becoming disillusioned or beaten down by it all. Their mental and emotional stability was tested with every new case that came across their desks, and so far they were holding up pretty well.

Dee had progressed from uniformed patrolman to detective faster, and at a younger age, than Ryo, but if asked, he'd been known to say that he thought overall Ryo was the better cop. Not that he was any kind of slouch himself, but his temper, his antipathy towards paperwork, and his sometimes cavalier attitude when it came to the rules and regulations were liable to hold him back from future promotions. He might one day make detective first grade, hoped that he would if only for the accompanying raise in pay, but Ryo had the potential to go all the way to the top, if he wanted to.

Any such considerations were still far in the future, however, and at least for the time being, Ryo had no interest in being stuck permanently behind a desk. To be honest, he doubted he ever would. He was a detective and that was all he wanted to be. It was possible that someday his ambitions would change, but he was young and in good health, and there were crimes to be solved, criminals to be caught and put behind bars, ordinary citizens to be protected. Besides, the city didn't have so many good snipers that it could afford to have one riding a desk when he could be made better use of elsewhere.

The two of them had developed into a solid and effective team; they might have been thrown together originally on the whim of their boss, but Chief Smith's snap decision had been proven correct over and over since the day Ryo had first arrived at the 27th Precinct. As far as they were concerned, they were right where they were meant to be, doing exactly what they were made to do, and with luck, they'd be working together for a long time yet to come.

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The End